


Deteriorate

by WhatIsThisWhyDoILoveIt



Series: Clockwork Families [1]
Category: LazyTown
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cute Kids, F/F, Family Secrets, M/M, Mutual Pining, elf!Sportacus, fae!Robbie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-04
Updated: 2017-06-08
Packaged: 2018-11-08 23:39:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11092320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhatIsThisWhyDoILoveIt/pseuds/WhatIsThisWhyDoILoveIt
Summary: Robbie is alone.He craves companionship.Of course he decides to take possibility the worse course of action and keeps himself locked up for almost a full month.Ella doesn't know what she is.Frankly she is too scared to ask.





	1. Day 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm actually writing this because I love ClockWork!Family and I wanted to write it to where it might be believable in Lazytown standards. 
> 
> I wanted to make this into one long one shot but I don't want to write anymore until I see others are interested in the plot, heh :B

The first time she opens her eyes in what seems like years- it has been years, it didn't come as a surprise to her- she comes face to face with a man who has a large smile with a bit of an over bite, a long chin that many would assume is fake but she knew it is all him, a slightly crooked nose that twitched slightly in expectancy, two gray eyes that had specks of green within them around the pupil that shown with excitement and with thick, styled brows above them. The girl feels something within her, in her chest region that flutters and weighs pleasantly heavy, she smiles, all she can think of when she looks at this man is 'Father', 'love' and 'Home'

She goes to stand up, to get off the bench on which she resided on and he backs off a few feet, staring at her with interest, doubt, and nervousness. She bring a hand up and holds it out to him, his nose twitches once again which she finds amusing and familiar. He comes forward and holds her hand tightly, crouching down a bit to her height and pulls her towards him, wrapping his arms around her, it felt comforting and protective. She blinked in shock, eyes wide.

"My little Rottenella. I've got you back." He whispers and she turns her head and lays it on his shoulder, wrapping her own arms around him. After a few seconds he sits back from the hug and, still crouching in front of her and holding her hand, asks, "Can you try. . .talking? I know I gave you a voice box but I don't know if it works." 

She nods and opens her mouth, nothing comes out and she frowns, trying again. The next thing that comes out sounds like a screeching of metal and gears that has Robbie covering his ears and telling her to stop. The ballerina nods and try again, "R-Robbie." She says, working her jaw and loosening it up for future usage. "Your name is Robbie. My name is. . . Rottenella." She said distastefully, scowling a bit, not caring much for her own name, it felt heavy on her tongue and Robbie nods.

"Or just Ella. Let's keep it short and just say Ella." He explains and she nods, saying Ella to herself silently, liking that much better. She looks up at Robbie as he stands to his full height, fixing his small vest over his chest and turning away, "You are probably wondering why I brought you back after so long." Ella shrugs and follows him on her tip toes, bouncing a bit as she did so, "To tell you the truth, I'm a bit. . .lonely." She frowns and lays a hand on his bicep, hoping to convey comfort somehow and he smiles at her, happy to have brought her back to him, "As the town villain no one really wants to spend time with me, or if they do, no one ever tells me. So to solve my loneliness I've cooped myself in my lair for the past two weeks working on you. Next I plan on working on Roboticus again, maybe I'll work on the other wind up Robbie but if I do that I am changing how he looks because it's a bit creepy." Ella nods along to what he says, remembering the other Robbie who was like her, much dumber though and couldn't dance to save his life, she had kicked him back through the machine as she danced, acting as if she didn't do anything when given a look of suspicion, she didn't see the point in allowing the dumb man to stay, he wasn't needed at the time. That memory made her grin. 

"Who is Roboticus?" She asks, curious as she never saw a Robot Sportacus running around last time she was awake. She remembered Sportacus, barely, only remembering seeing a glimpse of him as she was dragged away from the stage. She also remembers the pink girl who watched her dance in fascination, her face clearly showing how nervous she was and her awe of Ella's dancing. Ella can't help but wonder if the girl was still around.

"Ah, I made him about 2 years after I put you back up. Which, by the way, I changed you up to no longer having to be wound up! Now you can be active all you want -well don't be too active I despise exercise of any kind- and not break down unless you're going to sleep! Isn't that great?" Ella stares up at him in awe, she absolutely hated having to be wound up repeatedly last time and now she could have some freedom and not have to rely on others to keep her going. "And I even made you a bit older, so that took a lot of redesign and making pieces longer and bigger. Heh, to say it was creepy seeing your body parts lay around my lair is an understatement." Robbie said, rubbing his neck with a crooked smile on his face once more. 

Ella could only smile back up at him before then looked down, seeing that she was no longer in a purple ballerina outfit but something much more casual. She now wore white tights with black ballerina slippers on her feet that wound up to her knees, a black folded skirt that's band came up to her waist. A skin tight long sleeved purple shirt that had thumb holes at the end of the sleeves covered her top along with an even darker purple crop top over the top of it, the crop top had black ballerina slippers as the design in the middle of a white circle. She smiled and bound over to a long mirror sitting against the wall to look over her features, she no longer had her red bow lips, they were replaced with normal put on black lipstick though she still had her pink cheek circles. Ella's hair was now longer and cascaded down her shoulders in curls with a purple headband on top of her head, keeping the bangs off of her face. 

Robbie came up behind her and shuffled awkwardly, "Do you like it? I made the clothes myself and I figured the longer hair would make you look older, now a 13 year old, no longer an 9 year old." He laughed a bit, sounding nervous. He really hoped the girl would like everything he's done for her, he made her an entire wardrobe filled with different outfits if she preferred something different, he brought feminine bathroom products for her to use, he had a feeling she would love pomegranate smelling things, he was even beginning to change one of the rooms in the back into a room set up just for her, it wasn't done yet so he is keeping the door locked and going to allow her to sleep in his rarely used bedroom, he preferred using his orange chair to sleep in.

"I love it." Ella said with adoration laced in her tone as she looked up at Robbie, she turned back to the mirror to admire herself, noticing her eyes were a similar shade to his and touched her cheek gently, seeing if she could take off the pink blush if she liked. Robbie handed her a rag when he noticed her rubbing at her own cheek and she rubbed her face clean of the cheek blush with the rag and grinned at her reflection. "May I go see the other children?" She asked, tilting her head at him, "I never got to actually meet them last time. . ." She turned to the mirror, "They probably won't even recognize me." 

Robbie hummed in thought, beginning to pace a bit as he mulled the young girls request over for a few minutes, sighing and letting his arms fall to his sides, he must have lost the debate going on in his mind, Ella watched as this transpired, considering tripping him again like she did all those years ago but ultimately deciding against it, it would have been funny but not a good time for it.

"I suppose. Go nuts, I need to start working on making Roboticus look like an actual person anyways." He waved her off as he went over to a closet and pulled out the dark blue robot, carrying it easily over to a workbench and dropping it down, it looked to have weighed a lot so seeing him carry it so easily was surprising to the former doll. 

Ella stood there in the middle of the lair looking for a doorway but found none. She cleared her throat behind her father and he turned, staring at her for a few moments before snapping his fingers and poofing away from the workbench, Ella jumped in shock of that and turned to find him standing next to his chair and pointing up at a shoot where a ladder fell. "Sorry darling, I forgot to show you where the door was. And about the teleportation thing I just did, you should know this, as you are my daughter." Robbie looked everywhere but her, he wasn't sure how to tell his daughter this, if she even knew what it meant. He had tried to get some of his DNA actually within her to see if she would have similar abilities as him (and if ever needed, he could actually prove he is her father) "You need to know that I am what you would call 'Fae'." she nodded, not really sure what that was exactly but didn't want to ask and get into a longer conversation at this time, she just wanted to go out and see the others. He nodded, smiling, "just don't tell anyone, okay? I'll explain to you later what that means and why it needs to stay hidden." She nodded once more, turned away, and made her way up the ladder. Robbie watched her go with a sigh and a smile, going back to the pile of blue metal that sat on his workbench.

"Happy I didn't give you a stupid moustache like I planned at first." Robbie grumbled, poking the things screen face with a frown.

Giddiness filled Ella's chest the closer she got to the surface, she pushed open the lairs opening easy enough and climbed out, closing it back up quietly and jumping off the ladder. Ella looked to see that she was apparently behind a billboard of sorts and saw a door shape on the back, she pushed it open and saw, not too far away, Lazytown. She stepped out and closed the billboard door as well, admiring the cow and house painting on the board before beginning her walk down the road. 

Walking soon became boring so she began to cartwheel down the road until she made it to her first yellow wall and jumped over it in a flip. When she landed on the grass on the other side she turned and saw a group of kids, the same ones from all those years ago, all staring at her, and looking to be in the middle of something involving an odd shaped ball, Rottenella couldn't figure out for the life of her how that was suppose to be played with.

"Whoa! That was so cool!" A younger, plumper, boy said, jumping up and down behind the pink haired girl that Ella remembered.

"Totally! You're like Sportacus!" Pigtailed girl said, stepping forwards and the others all agreed, stepping towards her except for the pink haired one. She was looking the new girl over quizzically. Stephanie wasn't sure how to feel about this, she looked almost exactly like the doll Robbie used to try and win the dance competition all those years ago.

"I don't believe I'm like Sportacus." Ella said, wrapping her arms around herself shyly and giving them all a small smile as she made herself appear smaller, not use to all this attention.

"Oh come'on, I only know two people who can do a flip like that, and that is Sportacus and Stephanie. I guess now I know 3 people." The tallest boy said, he had red hair and a device stuck to his head, Ella thought to herself that maybe he was like her? Not exactly human but not exactly a machine, she shook her head at the thought.

"Well now she's MY friend now so you all can go back to your football game with my MY ball while I sit and talk to. . ."

"My name's Ella!" She exclaimed, metal sound coming through a bit at that and they all stared at her weirdly, wondering if she was the one who made that sound or something else, shrugging and shaking it off. Except for the pink girl, she turned and walked away.

"Well, I'm Trixie, this is Ziggy, Pixel, Stingy, and Steph- Hey Stephanie! Where are you going?" The pigtailed girl said, waving her arms after her retreating friend who turned back to them all for a moment.

"I'm going to get Sportacus! He should meet our new friend!" She said, fake happiness dripping from her tone and Ella felt a hotness on her face, anger building up a bit inside of her but she turned back to Ziggy who offered her a popsicle and was currently rambling on about the superhero, or as he would say, "Slightly above Average" Hero. Ella fell into conversation easily enough with the group, mostly Trixie who talked about all the possible pranks they could pull of together when Ella voiced how she loved to keep others on their toes and the thought of it all excited Ella much more than any sport could, she didn't even know if she would be interested in any sport other than dancing.

Stephanie huffed as she shoved the message she had written into the tube, pulling the lever and shuffling awkwardly near the mailbox, practicing a few dance moves half-hearted until a familiar blue blur came down from the sky, landing a few feet away from her in a perfect landing.

"Hello, Stephanie! What is it?" Sportacus asked, his usual grin set on his face and eyes bright, ready for a new game or another Robbie Scheme, he was actually missing the lazy man, not having seen him for quite awhile. Stephanie frowned, making Sportacus lose his smile and forget about Robbie for a moment, instantly leaning down and placing a hand on her shoulder as he tried to keep her gaze. "What's wrong?" 

"I'm pretty sure Robbie is trying to pull another stunt today." The girl explained, sounding a bit monotone with an underlying sadness to it.

"That's great! We haven't seen him in almost three weeks! Why do you think he's pulling another one?" Sportacus asked, almost feeling giddy at the mention of the lanky man, following her over to a bench where she sat down and he did as well, leg bouncing as he waited for the pink haired girls answer.

"Remember that wind up girl he brought to dance against me at the dancing competition like, 3 years ago?" Stephanie asked and Sportacus nodded slowly, not sure where the girl could be going with this, "She's back. She looks older now as if she aged with us! Which isn't possible? She was a wind up doll from what Robbie told us. And I just don't like what Robbie might have planned. She looks like a nice enough girl but I feel like she might have an ulterior motive, you know? You never know what Robbie could be trying to do!" 

"Have you talked to her?" Sportacus asked after a few seconds of mulling over what Stephanie had said.

"Well, not YET."

"Let's go see her then! I would love to meet her and possibly see you all get a new friend! She might just be a girl who wants to make friends, maybe Robbie was bored and made himself a daughter." Sportacus jumped up and grinned at the girl, it was an infectious smile and she just had to smile back, he always managed to cheer her up even at the worse of times. 

Stephanie stood up and Sportacus began to flip away towards the others and she could only laugh and start flipping as well. When the others came into view Stephanie stopped and watched as Ella stared at them in awe, mouth open in a shocked smile and eyes shining brightly. The pinkette faltered a bit and felt a bit of heat in her cheeks, Sportacus looked back at her and tilted his head in confusion, wondering why she stopped. Stephanie coughed and told him she felt fine and they finished their trek to the others, she avoided Ella's gaze as the noirette stared at her in what looked like a mix of anger and surprise, when she finally looked at Sportacus instead, Stephanie let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding and went to stand with the other children.

"Hello! My name is Sportacus, and I am Lazytown's resident Slightly-Above-Average Hero." The elf introduced himself to the new girl who just smiled brightly back and held her hand out to him, surprising him with a strong handshake.

"I'm Ella! You probably don't remember me but-" She began but Sportacus cut her off.

"From the dancing competition! Of course I remember you, you're dancing was amazing." Sportacus complimented and Ella giggled a bit, flushing and Stephanie stared in wonder at the girl, if she was a doll how could she blush like that?

"Thank you. Well, I'm Robbie's daughter and I would really like to. . .become friends with you all." Ella explained, turning to the other kids who all gasped at hearing she was Robbie's daughter, except Stephanie, "I swear this isn't one of his schemes. I just honestly want to. . .fit in?" She whispered the last part, fiddling with the bottom of her skirt, noticing the small purple stars that were stitched into it, as she said all this she was scared of what their response may be.

"Of course you can be our friend!" Pixel said brightly, "I could show you all my cool gadgets and we could play video games together!" 

"As I said before we could RULE this town with all our pranks!" Trixie said, wrapping an arm around the taller dark haired girl who giggled and leaned into the embrace. "Just imagine the CHAOS!" 

"We could sit and eat candy together and talk about all of our favorite things and our secrets and our fears and-" Ziggy began.

"No no no." Stingy said, putting a hand up in front of Ziggy's face and pushing Trixie away from the new girl and putting his own arm around her. "Like I said, she is MY friend and I already have plenty of plans made up to spend time with MY friend." 

"You can't OWN her you dummy!" Trixie said, punching Stingy playfully on the shoulder and he scowled, rubbing the spot. "She's all our friend. You can't hog all her time up with yourself." 

Stephanie watched this all happen, ignoring Stingy and Trixie's bickering off to the side and stepped up next to Ella who looked at her with a small smile but suspicious eyes.

"I uh. . I was wondering if you and I could maybe dance together? Have a sleepover, do each others nails, watch movies, and all that sort of stuff together?" The pinkette asked and Ella brightened up, a smile stretching across her face.

"I love dancing, and all of that sounds awesome!" She squealed and interlocked her arm with Stephanie's, who laughed as she was pulled closer to the taller girl. 

"We could have a girls day tomorrow!" Stephanie suggested, motioning for Trixie to join them and the pigtailed girl turned from Stingy and skipped forward with a smile.

"Yea! That would be awesome!" Trixie agreed, taking Ella's other hand into her own, they all began to laugh joyfully and even forgot about the boys as they discussed plans.

"What about us?" Ziggy asked sadly, holding his lollypop to himself and the girls all went quiet, turning their heads and stared sadly at him.

"I promise you can spend time with her after tomorrow and the remaining of today, okay Ziggy?" Stephanie said and the youngest boy nodded happily. 

"Well, before you do that girls. Ella, is Robbie in his lair right now?" Sportacus asked and Ella nodded, raising an eyebrow at the hero.

"He is. I don't think he wants visitors at the moment though. He's busy." The girl explained to him and Sportacus sighed, nodding as he would respect that. 

A beeping sound filled the area and Sportacus gasped, "Someone's in trouble!" He did his signature move and began to flip away from the group of children. Once he was gone, to most likely save the Mayor from some work related incident, the kids all began to talk and ask Ella questions. She felt herself get cold suddenly even as a sweat began to cover her skin, she had to back away a bit from the others and keep on a forced smile. The only one who seemed to notice this was Stephanie who frowned and stepped in front of the others, holding them back a bit.

"Guys! Stop asking so many questions, this is probably the first day she's been around so many people." Stephanie looked at the girl who nodded at that, "See? We just need to help her to get use to all this attention. So instead of interrogating her, let's just keep playing our game of football! We'll learn more about her as time goes on" The other kids mumbled their agreements and Stephanie nodded, proud of herself for managing to keep the others at bay for now. 

Stingy made his way to the ball, picking it up and Ella wiped her forward where she grimaced at the sweat, that was definitely a new thing for her. Like the others she was confused at how much more human she seemed to be. She walked over to Stingy and stared at the odd shaped ball in wonder.

"So you kick it with your feet?" She asked, poking the ball slightly as Stingy instinctively pulled the ball closer to himself.

"No. That's Soccer where you kick the ball. This is Football, you run with it in your arms, you tackle whoever has the ball, and you try to make a goal on the other side of the field. Except this is MY ball so." Stingy explained, tilting his head up in a smug way and Ella tilts her head, a bit confused.

"But if the ball and game is called a Football. . . shouldn't you play with your feet?" 

"We. . didn't make the rules. But if you want we can play something less confusing?" Pixel suggested, coming to stand next to the former doll who frowned a bit at her own apparent stupidity. She felt a sting behind her eyes that she blinked away and turned herself to face the others.

"No! We can play football. Sorry for being. . .like this." Ella said, saying the last part softly and Ziggy came up and patted her shoulder in comfort.

"It's fine Ella! We understand, we'll teach you everything we know!" He said excitedly and Ella smiled at his enthusiasm, nodding.

She felt that maybe this wouldn't be that bad.

Meanwhile during all of this Robbie is tearing Roboticus apart, throwing the parts carelessly around as he studied all of the gears and devices shoved inside the tin Sportacus. He huffed and stared at it all once it was all taken apart and crossed his arms, hunching over a bit and tapping one foot as he tried to imagine how to make this robot look nothing like Sportacus while keeping the build. He sighed as all he could imagine was the Sportakook who has been plaguing his mind with thoughts of him for the past month, the only thing that could make him not think about him was working on these robots. 

Working on Ella had worked, he didn't even think about the flippity floppy freak or his band of misfits at all, too focused on the task at hand. But now working with the thing that looked just like him was causing all of those thoughts to pop back up full force and Robbie could only groan as he made his way to his favorite orange chair, landing heavily in it and holding his pillow to his chest. He rocked the chair gently, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

"I know! I just need to take a nap! I'm running on only 4 hours of sleep right now in. . . 48 hours? I could do for a nap!" He announced and curled up in his chair even further, trying to get comfortable and bring sleep to himself but he couldn't do it. He laid there for what felt like hours and growled as he sat up, throwing his pillow to the side. "It's pointless! I won't be able to sleep with all this NOISE going on in my head! I need to do something, work on something different. But what" He turned and looked at the toy of himself that he brought to life all those years ago to dance and he turned out to be an AWFUL dancer. Robbie scowled a bit at it but sighed and grabbed it, staring into its beady little eyes as he considered it. "He can't be that awful at mechanics, he is ME after all." 

Hours later Ella is hissing from pain as she leans up against a yellow wall, holding herself up from collapsing. She watches as the others don't seem to be at all fazed from all of this exercise and Ella groans as she moves her legs and hears a familiar metal scraping noise. She stands back up straight and huffs, she'd have to have Robbie do a few things to her apparent joints. 

She looks over and sees the others have stopped playing and are now beginning to depart. They all yelled goodbye to Ella and she waved back, saying goodnight to all of them until all that was left is Stephanie who bounds over to Ella, a smile on her face that made Ella blush a bit as she got closer. Ella couldn't help but notice how bright the pink haired girls eyes shone in the dwindling sunlight. 

"Something wrong, Ella?" She asked the taller girl who shook her head, clearing her throat and smiling in return.

"I'm fine!" She squeaked out and Stephanie nodded, not really believing her but not wanting to push her too far, she might not play with them anymore if the younger girl did that.

"Well, it's almost dark outside. Want me to walk you back to the billboard?" Stephanie offered, stepping closer to the noirette who shook her head once more.

"No, I'll be fine, nothing can hurt me. Robbie is probably up waiting for me as we speak." Ella said, giggling softly as she imagined the man sitting in the middle of a mess made up of Roboticus parts and waiting for her to show back up. 

Stephanie nodded at the girl and shuffled a bit, biting her lip as they stood there quietly watching the sun set. Ella couldn't help but notice the biting of her lip and found herself staring at them. If Stephanie noticed her staring she didn't say anything.

"I'll. . .I'll see you tomorrow for our girls day!" Stephanie said, catching Ella's attention. The girl blinked owlishly at her and nodded. "We'll meet near the apple tree in the middle of town, okay? After that I'll have all sorts of stuff planned for us to do together!" She leaned forwards and wrapped her arms around the ballerina, hugging her tightly and Ella reciprocated, wrapping her own arms around the smaller of the two. Stephanie sighed contently within the embrace then pulled back, her face blushing a bit. "Goodnight!" She turned and bounded off, leaving Ella there confused and a bit sad at how short the hug was.

Ella turned back to the road and began her trek to the billboard, stretching her legs and beginning to do flips like she watched Sportacus do earlier, landing every single one on the way and once she was at the door she was smiling and laughing a bit at how fun it was, the pain in her legs was slowly going away. Making her way to the lair shoot she twirled and jumped up onto the ladder, pulling the heavy open easily and sliding down the shoot, letting the door close loudly. From below she heard a squeal and when she came out she expected to land on the floor but instead was caught by Robbie who looked a mess, hair out of his usual pompadour and falling in curls in front of his eyes, but he had a smile on his face.

"Ella! How was your day?" He asked as he sat her down in his fluffy orange chair. Ella curled up in it, sitting criss cross and sighing in happiness.

"It was so much fun-" She stopped as she noticed another Robbie walking behind her father, he had a big wind up on his back, she sneered a bit. "You brought him back to life already?" She asked and Actual Robbie nodded.

"I needed help with Roboticus, I couldn't focus and apparently Wind Up Robbie, who I'm just going to call Bradley because it's easier, is as good at mechanics as I am! He can't dance worth a damn but he is helping create 'Icus and him some new looks for me! What do you think about making Bradley a pale, curly haired red head who wears green and Roboticus a dark skinned, dark haired man who wears red? For some contrast ya know." 

Ella stared at her father with a disbelieving look on her face which he either didn't notice or he just didn't care as he turned away and bounded back over to his sewing machine where he was working on an outfit similar to his only green, nearby sat a red track suit that consisted of a white tank top, a red jacket, red shorts, knee high white socks and tennis shoes with a red hat sitting on top, she couldn't even imagine where he went to go get that stuff. Ella turned back to where Wind Up Ro- Bradley was working and saw he had a quarter of the way done, skinned up, realistic looking Roboticus pieces surrounding him. Ella agreed, it was REALLY creepy seeing all those body parts sitting everywhere. Even creepier seeing fake skin in a weird pile nearby along with organs? Where did Robbie even get those?

"I think I'm going to go to bed." Ella said over the noise of the sewing machine and Bradley singing in Icelandic, she stood up and made her way down a hallway, looking through every doorway out of curiosity, frowning at the locked door at the end of the hallway and stopping when she came to a bedroom that looked to be rarely used. The bed was huge, it was made out of dark hard wood and looked as if it could hold 6 people comfortably with a purple comforter, magenta colored pillows, and a light purple blanket that had a pair of pyjamas sitting on top of them. Ella smiled as she took the clothes and went into the bathroom connected to the room for a shower, using the new shampoo and conditioner happily, loving the smell of it and then headed to bed after brushing her hair.


	2. Day 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stephanie, Trixie, and Ella have their Girls Day, it goes about as well as expected.
> 
> Robbie just wants to have some normality in his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry in advance for how the ending seems a bit rushed, I'm getting a new phone in like, a day and the App I use to type my story doesn't have a transferring system so I can log in and keep all my stuff.

The only reason Ella had waken up the next day as early as she did was due to the banging that could heard all the way to the bedroom she resided in, it was faint and sounded as if it was outside and not within the bunker like she expected with how loud Robbie and Bradley had been last night, at one point she is pretty sure she heard screaming, the girl groaned and rubbed her eyes, getting up from the bed and looking around the darkened room, her clothes from yesterday were picked up and laid clean, on a chair in the corner of the room that she didn't notice last night. 

Ella smiled as she mentally thanked whoever did this for her, it could have been Robbie or Bradley, she didn't know, she leaned more towards Robbie. She quickly got dressed and brushed out her hair with a purple hairbrush she found, it looked new so it didn't seem to be Robbie's, her hair was even curlier from falling asleep last night with wet hair and she rolled her eyes, huffing and making her way to the main area of the lair abut brushing her teeth with the toothbrush she found with her named labelled on it, she wasn't even sure if she could even get cavities but if Robbie felt she needed a toothbrush apparently she was more human than she thought. She was still heavily confused as of what she is. She had metal pieces obviously but she could feel herself breath and a heartbeat if she felt in certain spots. 

She was honestly too afraid to ask Robbie what she was. She was still worried about the pile of organs she saw last night. They looked sort of fake but still.

Once in the main area she saw that Robbie had fallen asleep half on top of the torso of Icus, hugging it tightly to himself and sucking on his thumb while Bradley was found limp over the railing of the walkway with white foamy stuff all over his back and head. Ella blinked and tilted her head at the two, not really sure what to even think. The lair was in complete disrepair, tools and metal and skin laid everywhere she looked and she grumbled as she walked on her tiptoes to avoid stepping on anything sharp. She made her way to where Bradley was n climbed over, beginning to crank up his wind up and when he came to life he smiled down happily at her.

"Daughter! How are you? Is it morning already? Did you have a nice sleep? Before Bradley forgot he gave you clean clothes! Did you want a different outfit? Bradley can get you a different outfit if you wish." He asked in a bit of a sing song voice and Ella sighed, rolling her eyes at all his questions.

"I'm good. It is morning, yes. I slept very well, thank you for asking. And this outfit is just fine, thank you for cleaning it for me. I have to go now and answer the door, do you think you could clean up the bunker some before Robbie wakes up?" Ella answered it all in one breath and Bradley grinned, clapping his hands together, he didn't even mind the white substance that was dripping off of his back, he had a job to do!

"Of course Bradley can do that! Have fun on your adventures, Daughter!" He leaned down and gave Ella a hug which she returned, he nuzzled her and gave the top of her head a kiss which made her laugh and push him away, Bradley just smiled and waved as she jumped over the railing and started climbing up the ladder to the surface.

From above Stephanie was beginning to become a bit impatient and worried for her new friend, she had been knocking for 10 minutes already and still nothing! She was about jump in the lair to make sure everything was okay before Ella opened up the latch and squinted from the sunlight at her.

"Finally! I've been knocking forever!" Stephanie exclaimed, relief obvious on her face, grinning at the girl who looked at the sunrise in suspicion, the sun was barely up!

"How early is it?" 

"It's 7am! And I have a whole day planned out for us three and I just couldn't wait at our destination for you! I was too excited! And I also remembered that I totally didn't tell you what time!" She chattered, Ella watched her talk but didn't really listen to what she was saying. Ella also couldn't help but notice that the orange sunlight really complimented the pinkette. 

"Now come'on! Trixie is probably waiting for us already at the tree." Ella nodded and climbed out the rest of the way, shutting the latch and securing it tightly before proceeding to follow Stephanie.

The walk to town was filled with comfortable silence, Stephanie wasn't sure what to say, she was too excited about today's plans with the two girls that she was afraid she would blurt out all the surprises before they came. Ella was just tired.

As the tree came into view they saw Trixie standing there, dressed differently than normal and looking nervous as all get out as she chewed on her nails. Instead of her usual red and white T shirt with red jeans she now wore blue baggy jeans, a black shirt with an obscure logo on it, and a red flannel. Her hair was surprisingly out of her pigtails and was in a tight braid behind her head. When they came up to her she grinned, looking over the two girls with a slight blush on her cheeks, nervous of what they would think of her outfit change, if they even noticed. 

They noticed, both thought Trixie looked really good and shared matching blushes as they smiled at the girl, both feeling maybe THEY should have dressed up a bit? Well, Stephanie sort of did, instead of the striped dress she almost always wore, today she wore her pink tights with white shorts over the top of them and a pink baby doll shirt with her usual playing shoes, she kept her headband in place but felt she could have done more. Ella meanwhile felt like a weirdo wearing the exact same outfit she wore yesterday but pushed that feeling to the side in exchange for contemplating how she felt about these girls. 

They were definitely different and good in their own ways, there were many differences between the two and Ella felt as if she could relate to both in many ways. She had Trixie's humor and love for pranks and tricks, which they agreed on doing many today on Stephanie. When it comes to Stephanie they could agree on sense of style and their love for dancing. With both, they all three loved to play outside and keep active. Ella felt a bit out of place, hearing yesterday that these two were Best Friends and she was honestly scared that they would ditch her first chance they got.

"Well! First things first, Trixie, you look amazing, so do you Ella. Secondly, we need to start on my plans if we want to get through all of them!" Stephanie squealed, bouncing a bit. The red clad girl shared a look with the purple clad girl and both groaned as Stephanie just looked ecstatic.

In the lair outside of town Robbie was regretting his choice of bringing the wind up of himself alive. He didn't realize how much he SANG, for being brought to life to dance he sang way too much, usually show tunes or weird musicals from the 80s, all in Icelandic. Robbie wasn't even sure how Bradley had heard of Rocky Horror Picture Show, not even Robbie has seen that. Robbie did have to admit the clone sounded good as he was essentially Robbie and shared many characteristics with the live version. There were of course the obvious differences.

Robbie was much more charismatic and charming, while Bradley was naive and oblivious, this was seen late last night as he stood very close to a fire that he started on the left arm of Icus, he didn't even notice his own arm and back had set aflame until Robbie was screeching like a banshee and spraying him down with an extinguisher. 

Robbie was obviously more attractive out of the two of them, Bradley just made. . .a weird face. All the time. He looked constipated if Robbie were to be totally honest. And with how Robbie plans on changing him a bit he'll look more hideous, or better, who knows. Certainly not Robbie.

Robbie had much more self control, while he did sometimes stray away from the project he always managed to get back to it in a jiffy. Then there was Bradley, who would get distracted by something as simple as a purple polka dotted rubber ducky and Robbie would have to pull him back to the main thing.

Getting Icus ready might just be easier if he did it himself. Robbie sighed as he looked at the limp body dangling from the railing, the white extinguisher stuff had been cleaned off of the head, arm and back and the lair was cleaner than from last night. Robbie watched as Bradley's body slowly slipped forward over the rail and fell right down to the floor, causing him head to fall off and roll over to Robbie. Robbie sneered a bit and picked it up.

"See what happens when you're an idiot?" He asked the dismembered head and chucked it to the side, going over and picking up the rest of the body, sitting it with the head to work on another time. "I always have to do everything by myself. I'm the only genius around, even a clone of MYSELF is a complete buffoon!" Robbie sobbed, covering his face with his hands and taking a few deep breaths. "It's all fine though! Ella is out playing with her newly made friends, Bradley did a decent job at cleaning up the place, don't know why he went back to being passed out on the railing afterwards but whatever, Ella must not have cranked him enough. And I have a family to build! Maybe I should make a mother for Ella? . . . . .NAH."

From above, Sportacus looked down at Lazytown from the airship, having already finished his early morning routine he was watching over the town with a smile on his face, seeing the three girls near the apple tree and Stephanie dragging the two of them off towards her house.

"I knew if she just talked to Ella that they would be great friends!" Sportacus spoke to himself and the airship, he was proud of his pink daughter, which he dubs her in his mind, it started off as an accident, calling her that, now he accepts it. 

He didn't mean to pick a favourite child while here in Lazytown but the girl reminded him so much of himself when he was her age. Always excited for a new adventure and willing to do anything to help her friends and family. Of course he has been trying to help with her need to be in control at all times which she admittedly does subconsciously. 

But seeing her interact with Robbie's daughter made him feel proud, she seemed so upset when she came to him yesterday and he hated seeing her like that, he was happy that he managed to help, even in such a simple way as telling her to communicate.

Sportacus found himself looking out at the billboard with his telescope and frowned as he still saw no sign of Robbie. Ella had said he was fine yesterday when he spoke to her again after their first meeting but Sportacus was still unsure, it wasn't healthy physically or mentally to keep yourself locked in a cold lair with no sun for almost a whole month. The urge to go over and drop in unexpectedly was strong but Sportacus knew that the taller of the two wouldn't appreciate that at ALL and maybe even hate him more than he already did. 

"I wish he didn't hate me." Sportacus mumbled as he put his telescope back up and walked back into the ship before turning and running out, doing a flip as he jumped off and yelling door for it to close. He landed soundly on one of the yellow walls that decorated the town and looked around for anything interesting to do. He flipped his way through the town happily, checking over the surroundings and stopping to pet the now fully grown black and white cat that roamed the roads. When he stopped he saw a certain color from the corner of his vision and was up and ready to call out.

"Robb- Oh hey girls!" Sportacus covered up the name, the color he noticed was from Ella, her shirt really, she seemed to be the only one who noticed his slip, she smirked a bit at him and he cleared his throat, ignoring her look and did his usual pose and tried to fight down the blush playing on his cheeks. "What are you three up to today?"

Stephanie stepped up and showed Sportacus the basket she was carrying and Trixie showed him some butterfly nets and a softball, "Well, first I'm taking these two to breakfast at that really nice café by the bank, my treat, they have the BEST muffins you will ever taste, I could see if they can make you one without any artificial sugar if you want?" Sportacus shook his head, telling her thank you for asking, Stephanie shrugged and continued, "Then afterwards I want to take them on a hike towards the woods, on the way there I want us to catch butterflies and different sorts of insects to see what species live in this area, we'll take a break from that to play a few games of tag and hide and seek or catch, I brought a ball just in case." Sportacus nodded, loving how active this all sounded already, "Around lunch time I have packed a nice little picnic and I know the absolute perfect spot for a it, it's a field that is right near a river which I want to take them to go swim in next. I'm letting Ella borrow one of my swimsuits, she doesn't think Robbie has made her one of those yet, she isn't even entirely sure what as swimsuit is and doesn't understand why we wouldn't just swim naked like we bathe and shower, weird right? Anyways, then we'll start making our way back and once we do we're going to go see a movie together, the new one with the giant friendly bear and his small bunny friend, then Trixie is going to get us a free dinner at her families restaurant!" Sportacus blinked at the entirety of the plan, to him it all sounded like one big date, as if the pink and red dressed girls are taking Ella on a date. He didn't voice this of course, the entire day sounded absolutely lovely to him and he felt pride for the two girls for making this whole day to help make Ella feel included.

"Well, that all sounds great! I can't wait to hear how it goes. Remember to drink plenty of water on your hike, you have to stay hydrated, especially in this heat. Watch out for any wild animals that could hurt you and stay safe." Sportacus said, knowing that they would be fine but he felt protective of the three of them. If it was his choice he would go with but he knows that this is girl time, he isn't allowed during girl time. He wasn't even sure what to do with himself as they all three bid him goodbye and waved as they walked off towards the café they mentioned. 

"This is going to be fuckin' awesome!" He heard Trixie yell, pumping her arms in the air and Sportacus frowned, resisting the urge to scold her for her profanity. He didn't have to as Stephanie began to lay it on the flannel clad girl who just started to laugh at the others attempt at scolding. Ella was a bit shocked from the word but began to laugh too with Trixie.

Once they were gone Sportacus again felt the urge to go and see what Robbie was up to, he knows he shouldn't. The villain wouldn't want him anywhere near his lair. He didn't even want him around Lazytown.

The boys, knowing them, would be inside playing video games today, it was usually the girls who motivated them to go outside and Sportacus wasn't sure if even he was in the mood to try and get them to budge, he would of course go by around noon and make sure they were eating a plentiful, healthy lunch.

Sportacus shuffled a bit and looked around, a smile coming on his face as he saw Robbie had finally come out of his lair. He flipped off towards the taller man and when he landed in front of him he screamed, almost falling over had it not been for Sportacus grabbing his hand at the last second and pulling him back up to standing. 

"Hiya Robbie! Sorry for scaring you there!"

"Watch where you are going Sportasneak! You almost gave me a heart attack! Then look what you would have done, Ella wouldn't have a father anymore and no one would hear of my brilliance!" Robbie said dramatically, flailing his arms around. His heart was pounding in his ears and seeing the one person who wouldn't get out of his head the past 2 months in person was making him feel a it light headed. He just wanted to go back to the lair, but he had to get food sometime. 

"I'm sorry, Robbie. Where are you headed?" Sportacus asked, beginning to walk with Robbie at his pace, surprising the villain who assumed he would flip around while they walked, maybe be more of a nuisance than his presence was already giving the lankier man, anything but walking like a NORMAL human being.

"The store. I need to get some food for me, Ella, and Ic- just me and Ella." Robbie caught himself, he wasn't sure if he should say that he's working on yet another companion. Sportacus noticed the small slip but decided not to push, he was curious as of who else Robbie could live with, he ignored the spike of jealously that appeared in the back of his mind. "I'm surprised you haven't asked me why I've locked myself up for almost a month." Robbie grumbled, glancing over at the other with an eyebrow raised, "That should have been the first question out of your mouth in fact."

Sportacus shrugged, holding hid arms behind his back as he considered how to answer the other man, "I don't want to. . . impose? You apparently were very busy with your daughter and I can't say I didn't consider just jumping down into your lair to make sure you were okay." Sportacus cleared his throat, glancing Robbie up and down before turning away, "And you look great! Your arms look much more. . .muscular. Your frame is the same lankiness we all know." And I love, Sportacus thought to himself and Robbie's nose twitched as he looked down at himself, it is true, without realizing it Robbie had actually been eating better and working with Ella had brought some energy to him that motivated him to do a few exercises here and there between carrying heavy metal objects around, not that he would tell Sportanosy that. Nor did he need to know that Robbie has found a soft spot for some fruits, particularly berries.

"Ah, yes. Well. Thank you?" Robbie was very confused as to what to say to his nemesis, the man was constantly nice to him even though Robbie has given him no reason to even try becoming friends with him. All Robbie has done to him is cause him and the children harm when he didn't mean to, he has almost killed Sportacus before, he has shoved him into a canon, given him sugar apples, almost crashed his airship! And yet the hero was still a pathetic puppy following the villain whenever he saw him with his big, beautiful blue eyes and stupidly cute moustache. The villain felt a pang in his heart as he realized just how shitty of a person he has been, no wonder the only family he could have was build out of metal and rubber. Robbie hadn't noticed that he had stopped until some fingers were snapping in front of his face.

"-obbie? Robbie, are you okay?" He jerked his head down to look at the worried elf. Sportacus grabbed one of Robbie's biceps, squeezing it gently and appreciating the muscles he found there but pushing that thought away for another time as he tried to get Robbie out of. . .whatever this was. 

When Robbie did finally focus on reality, he jumped at how close Sportacus had gotten to him and squeaked, face turning red at how embarrassing that sounded and he growled in frustration. He couldn't even act normal around the Sportaloon.

"I'm fine!" Robbie spat and shook Sportacus' hands off of him, starting to stomp away from the scene before he embarrassed himself any more, leaving Sportacus standing there with confusion evident on his face along with a nice pink flush. Sportacus frowned a bit, feeling like he ruined his chance to talk to the villain for yet another month, he also couldn't get that growl out of his mind as he made his way back to the airship.

On the other side of town the girls were walking out of Mjoi Café, giggling to one another as they discussed the day ahead of them, Stephanie was going on about the river near their picnic sight and how Ella would absolutely adore it, Trixie raved about how good her families restaurant was, even if the time her parents spent making sure everything was perfect meant they rarely paid her much attention, Stephanie agreed that the restaurant was very good and that most of the workers there were teenagers like ourselves, a few years older but not by much. 

Making their way to the outside of town they saw Robbie rubbing his reddened face, Ella grinned and came up behind her father, tapping his shoulder and he screeched, groaning and turning to Ella with anger which quickly faded away as he saw who it was.

"Ella! Hi sweetie, what are you doing?" Robbie asked, crouching in front of Ella.

"I just had probably the BEST muffin of my entire life," Ella exclaimed, ignoring the fact she's been alive for only 1 day so far, Robbie decided to humor her and nodded.

"From Mjoi Café?" He suspected and Ella nodded, a smile on her face.

"Yes! Now we're on our way to have a picnic in the woods and, between you, me, and Trixie, play a few pranks on Stephanie," She giggled, making Robbie grin.

"Well! I hope you girls have fun, I have to run and get some things for us at the store. I want you to be safe. Okay, Ella?" Robbie said, grabbing Ella's arms in a loose grip, "Don't do anything stupid and be sure to watch out for any wild animals that might harm you-"

"You sound just like Sportacus!" Trixie cut him off, laughing as she said it. Robbie scowled, feeling his face once again get warm as he remembered how he embarrassed himself in front of said man. "He also told us to watch out and be safe." Stephanie nodded, giggling.

"I knew you were just a big softie, Robbie!" Stephanie said and Robbie huffed, folding his arms. All three girls laughed at how he was acting and came up and hugged him, Robbie froze at the affection and uncrossed his arms, looking down at the three of them and sighed, hugging them back.

"Yea yea, run off now. Ella, be home by at least 8, okay?" Robbie said and Ella nodded, hugging him one more time before skipping away with the other two.

\--

"Guys? Where's our basket?" Stephanie asked as it was now her turn in hide and seek, the basket was suppose to be their safe point and yet the basket was no where to be found. She looked around and saw the other two had already run off to hide, she groaned and shook her head. "Of course, you two had to play a prank on our girls day." She sighed and shrugged, beginning to count anyways, wherever the basket might be it should be in safe hands. 

Finishing her counting she began to trek through the woods, listening for any sounds that may give away where another was hidden. Stephanie stopped as she heard a rustle of tree leaves that no small animal could have made and grinned, running up to a thick tree with low hanging branches and began to climb. The higher she got the louder the rustling became and when she found the noise she gasped.

"Hey! Get out of my basket you rats!" She hissed swatting at a squirrel who currently had a strawberry in its mouth, chewing away happily while the others tore apart the basket for more food. Stephanie groaned and grabbed the basket from the infernal animals, holding it close to herself. When she grabbed it the squirrels froze and all looked at her, eyes wide and tails twitching. Stephanie laughed nervously as she began to back up on the tree branch, "So I'm just gonna. . go." She said and began to climb down as fast as she could while squirrels began to follow her, chirping and squeaking away, from her haste she missed a branch and went falling, she screamed out and was ready for the impact of the ground but that never came. She opened her eyes and was surprised to see Ella holding her in her arms, face covered in dirt and eyes full of worry.

"Are you okay, Stephanie?" Ella asked her and Stephanie nodded, face feeling hot as she stared at her savior.

"Yea. I'm fine." She was able to rasp out and Ella nodded, setting her down so she could stand.

"I'm so sorry about that, it was suppose to be a. . .I'm not sure but we didn't realize there were going to be squirrels. Now our lunch is ruined, you almost DIED and it's all because of our stupid plan and-"

"It's fine, Ella. I'm okay and there is still enough food for our lunch." Stephanie interrupted, placing a hand on the girls shoulder and rubbing it gently. "Where's Trixie?" Ella nodded, trying not to cry as she led the other girl to Trixie's hiding place. Once they found the brunette they told her what happened, Ella still on the verge of tears.

"Oh my god! Stephanie, are you SURE you're okay? Should we go back to town and spend the rest of the day at your house?" Trixie asked, checking over the girl who allowed her to look her over, all she had was a few scratches here and there, nothing a bit of antibiotics can't handle.

"No! We need to finish off our day! It's almost lunch time now, we need to find that field I told you about! It's not far from here." Stephanie said, picking up the demolished basket and torn blanket, beginning to skip away. Trixie and Ella shared a look and shrugged, both feeling guilty over Stephanie getting hurt. As they walked behind the happy pink haired girl Trixie couldn't help but notice how sad Ella looked, she nudged her.

"Hey, thank you for saving Stephanie like you did, if you weren't around I don't know what would have happened. . ." Trixie trailed off, looking at the back of her best friends head, "I don't know what I would have done without her." She whispered just loud enough for Ella to hear. The taller of the three took Trixie's hand within her own and squeezed it in what she hoped was comfort, Trixie squeezed back, giving her a smile and wiping away some stray tears with her other hand.

"Guys! We're here!" Stephanie called, looking behind her to see the two darker haired girls holding hands, she frowned at the pang of jealously she felt, she couldn't tell who she was jealous of and she hated it. "Let's get everything ready!" She said with a slightly forced smile.

They began to get everything ready, Ella got to mess with the blanket, Stephanie with the basket and food checking while Trixie made sure no birds would end up pooping or attacking them as they ate.

"Hey, Ella. I was wondering if I could ask you something." Stephanie piped up from her position of rummaging through the picnic basket for any scraps that could be left after the incident.

"Yea?" Ella said, laying the slightly tattered blanket in a nice spot out of the shining sun and under a cool shaded tree. 

"Why did you get rid of your cheek blush? Or did Robbie do that?" 

"Oh, I did. Robbie actually left it." Ella said, laughing a bit as if it was an absurd thing and Stephanie frowned a bit. Ella stopped laughing.

"I really liked your cheek circles, they really made you. . . .you? I don't know. Not that you're not beautiful without them, it's just I preferred them?" She managed to say, face burning when she realized what she had just said. Trixie snorted a laugh at that.

"I agree with Pinky over here. You're always going to be beautiful but I liked your blush circles, they were very flattering on ya." Ella could feel her own face burning as she looked between the two. 

"I don't know what to say. I suppose I can give them another chance?" 

"You don't have to of course!" Trixie and Stephanie said at once, laughing as they realized what they just did and bumped one another playfully and sharing an affectionate look before turning back to look at the former doll.

"What we're saying is, if you don't want the cheek circles anymore it's your choice, you obviously got rid of them for a reason, maybe." Trixie stated, shrugging, "We're gonna like you no matter what you choose."

"Yea!" Stephanie agreed, skipping over to Ella and holding one of her arms in a loose, comfortable grip, "Whatever you decide to do, whether its the cheek blush, lipstick or anything else, we will stick by your side! It's what best friends do."

Ella stood there, speechless, she wasn't sure what to say, she felt ecstatic and scared all at once, everything that she could do wrong to lose her newly formed friends rushed through her mind and Stephanie grew concerned as she noticed the noirette had stopped blinking. Stephanie turned to Trixie who walked up to them cautiously, the pink haired girl tried to let go of Ella but was caught by the girls hand.

"I- you. . .You guys. . . really want to be my . . .best friend?" She asked softly, she had heard the term friends many times this past two days but she still couldn't believe it. The idea that anybody wanted to be close to her, a BEST friend, made her want to laugh and cry from happiness.

"Of course! You're awesome!" Trixie answered, raising an eyebrow at the girl, "You've given us no reason to not like you."

"But the competition years ago-"

"Was years ago, plus it wasn't YOU who tried to ruin my dance routine." Stephanie said, confused on why Ella seemed insistent on that it was her fault, it was obviously Robbie's fault but Stephanie didn't hate him for it, granted she has no idea how ruining her dance routine in front of everyone would somehow run Sportacus out of town but still.

"I. . . True. But. . ."

"But nothin! Now let's see if we can dig and eat around what the squirrels did to our food." Trixie said, taking both girls and plopping them down on the blanket and beginning the picnic. As they ate Trixie and Ella both agreed that maybe putting a basket in a tree wasn't their best prank idea, they silently agreed to never do anything that could possibly put Stephanie in danger again.

Once they finished eating what they could they cleaned up their mess and made their way to the river, cooing at some small frogs they noticed along the way with Trixie taking the occasional photograph of the wildlife, scenery, or Ella and Stephanie smiling and laughing. They all got changed into their swim gear, Ella having to deal with a pink and purple stripes one piece that Stephanie let her borrow while Stephanie was in a two piece tankini that had a skirt bottom and Trixie was in black boy swimming boxers and a red bikini top.

Stephanie got into the water and squealed for no other reason than giddiness, she got entirely into the water with it coming up to her shoulders, it was a bit chilly still but still felt amazing as she sunk into it happily, "Come'on guys! Jump in!" She said, waving her arms and Ella nodded, coming in slowly and coming in to sink next to Stephanie, Ella looked in the water to see small fishes swimming around her and Stephanie, she giggled as one bumped into her leg and quickly swam off in the other direction.

"Are you guys READY?" Trixie announced, finding herself a high area on top of some rocks, "I'm gonna show you all how to do a correct, amazing, spectacular canon ball." The girls watched as she stretched and took a few steps back, grinning at the two of them before running and jumping off the rocks, hollering as she did so and curled up into the fetal position, doing a spin and landing safely in the water, splashing the other two who laughed, when Trixie came up she spit water at Ella who squeaked and went under the water for safety. Ella held her breath as she was down there, seeing through the water the other two splashing each other and could faintly hear them laughing. 

Ella swam off a bit from the others, curious of how deep a river could be and swam towards the bottom, eyes widening when she saw a necklace at the bottom, it had the letters RR as the pendant with what looked like red and purple gems decorating it, some were missing. Ella kept it in her hands as she swam a bit farther, not even noticing she didn't have to go back up for air yet nor that the other two girls above were beginning to grow worried, they couldn't see her anymore at this point.

At this point Ella didn't think she would find anything else and came back up to the surface, turning back to the other girls who, from how far she was, looked like specks of pink and brown. She frowned and began to swim back, the other two saw a black speck down the river and swam towards it, hoping it was Ella. They met in the middle and Trixie hugged Ella tightly.

"We were worried about you!" Stephanie said, floating near the two as they hugged, Trixie pulled her into the hug as well.

"I was fine. I can hold my breath for a really long time." Ella explained, smiling at their worry, they both huffed.

"Still, don't scare us like that! We almost lost Stephanie today already, I can't handle all this emotion!" Trixie yelled, flailing in the water and making the other two laugh.

"Sorry guys, I found this necklace while I was out there though," Ella showed them the necklace, they ooed at it and got closer, "It looks like it could belong to my father."

"You're right! It's his initials and his color scheme." Stephanie said, taking it gently and looking over it, "We should return it to him! He would be so happy!"

"I'll do it when I get home." Ella said, swimming with the others over to the surface, taking the necklace back and shoving it into a pocket in her skirt. 

They all dried off, getting dressed and making their way back to town in time for dinner, heading towards the Troubleby's restaurant once they stopped by Mayor Meanswells home to tell him about their day and put their stuff back up. 

"That sounds like a wonderful day!" Milford said, tapping his hands together as a nervous habit of his, they didn't tell him about how Stephanie fell out of a tree, she didn't want him to worry too much about her. "Have a good supper! I'm joining Bessie tonight for a dinner of my making."

"Wow! You're going to cook for Bessie?" Stephanie exclaimed, happy to see her Uncle finally showing some initiative in the twos relationship, if you could even call it that.

"Well, I'm going to TRY cooking for Bessie. You know I'm not exactly a culinary genius or anything." The girls nodded, making their way out and towards the restaurant.

Robbie sat and stared at everything he had bought, regretting it all but knowing that Ella, as a growing child, would need all of this. . . healthy food. He grimaced as he began to shove all the fruits and vegetables into his already packed fridge, hopelessly hungry himself but refused to eat any of THAT. 

Once Robbie finished putting all of the food away he went over to his cake maker and hit it, hearing a purring noise then some splats and grinding, to anyone else it would sound awful and not at all correct but he just grinned and opened up the door at the end of the machine, pulling out a piece of wonderfully purple frosted cake and made him way through the junk scattered around his lair and made himself comfy in his chair, he checked the time to see it was nearly 8pm, he hummed as he sat and waited for his daughter to return home, munching happily on his cake.

He looked around his lair, seeing Bradley's body in one corner with his own head in his lap, Robbie figured while he's like that to make some adjustments to his facial features as well, make the chin less prominent perhaps? He would also need to get him some orange hair. Robbie looked to where Roboticus, or Icus as he has begun calling him in his mind as it sounded sort of cool, laid and considered giving the athletic robot a voice box, he wasn't sure if he wanted to honestly. He might, just to help him feel NORMAL, plus he might be a good conversationalist. Robbie just hopes Bradley will be less noisy once he finished him up.

Robbie was almost through his entire slice, realizing just how hungry he was, he couldn't even remember the last time he ate anything. That wasn't healthy. Neither was anything else he did so he didn't really care. 

Robbie jumped when Ella landed in front of him, her hair in curls from being wet and not brushed and a smile on her face. 

"Father!" Ella exclaimed, running up to him and climbing into his lap, he sat his now empty plate to the side and smiled at his daughter, feeling relaxed as ever. "Today was so much fun!" She began to explain it all to him, gesturing with her hands in a way that could only be him. "And! I found this while we were swimming!" She pulled out the necklace, ready and expecting Robbie to grin and put it on but instead he stared at it, in both anger and horror.

"I. . . I got rid of that years ago." He whispered, taking it from Ella and inspecting it, it had aged pretty well, with some missing gems but other than that it was in good condition. 

"Why did you get rid of it?" Ella asked softly, feeling like she had made a mistake of showing him, she did consider keeping it for herself but decided against it last minute, now she wishes she would have kept it.

"I. . .I'll tell you another time. Go to bed."

"It's only 8, though!" Ella said, frowning. Robbie gave her a stern look and she sighed, climbing off of his lap and skipping towards the back room. 

Robbie held onto the necklace in a grip so tight his knuckles began to turn white.

**Author's Note:**

> :D  
> Comments and Kudos make me happy.
> 
> Also the Horror Aspect of this won't come up til later, who knows if it will happen in this part, it may not be until the second or third part when it comes in. I'm very undecided on that. Haha


End file.
